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RABBINIC REFLECTION BY RABBI michael berk
D'Var for Soulfood Shabbat November 9, 2007
Parshat Toldot: Jacob and Esau
This week’s Torah portion tells us the story of Isaac, Rebecca, and their twins, Jacob and Esau. These are well known stories to us: we read how Jacob gets the birthright from Esau after Esau was willing to trade it for some food. And at the end of the portion we read how Rebecca and Jacob conspire to have Jacob cook Isaac’s favorite meal before he dies and receive the blessing, all the while Isaac thinks it’s his favorite son, Esau, hunting and cooking this meal. Esau finds out Isaac has blessed Jacob with the blessing rightly belonging to him; and towards end of the parsha, after Isaac dies, Torah says, “…Esau said to himself, ‘Let but the mourning period of my father end, and I will kill my brother Jacob.'”
The verse is pretty clear, and it looks as though Esau is showing sensitivity. While he wants to kill his brother, he nevertheless seems considerate of Jacob’s feelings, or maybe the feelings of his mourning family. But to the rabbis, Esau is not just an individual; he is a prototype of the Jew-hater. Even more, he is a very symbol of hatred. This is conveyed in the following Midrash:
R. Levi stated: Woe unto the wicked who are constantly forming designs against Israel, each one saying, My plan is better than yours! Esau said: Cain was a fool for killing his brother during his father’s lifetime, not taking into consideration that his father would be fruitful and multiply. I will not make that mistake, but, I’ll just wait for the days of mourning for my father, then will I slay my brother. Pharaoh said: Esau was a fool in saying, Just wait for the days of mourning for my father, not realizing that his brother would be fruitful and multiply during his father’s lifetime. I will not make that mistake, but when the Israelites are still tiny, under the birthstools of their mothers, I will strangle them. That’s why it is why Pharaoh instructed, “You shall look upon the birthstool, every son that is born shall you cast into the river.” Haman said: “Pharaoh was a fool in ordering every male born to cast into the river, not realizing that the girls would get married and bear children. I will not make that mistake but will give orders to destroy, to slay all Jews.
What we have here is a bleak picture of human progress: a continuous perfecting of the methods of killing. The greater the intellectual advance of humanity, the more refined the means of extermination. The moral qualms of one generation are considered its foolishness by the next. Each promises not to respect the mistake made by the previous generation in its effort for a final solution.
May we be a generation which breaks with this tradition, finally mustering our creativity and intelligence not to perfect the means of destruction, but the way to bring blessing and peace to all humanity.
Rabbi Michael Berk
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